T0ad 0f Truth said:
So recently I found myself in the unenviable position of lacking a microwave. The horror I know. I pray for release everyday.
Anyway, In the meantime I've taken it upon myself to start cooking dinner instead of microwaving stuff and am wondering what I should make for the next few weeks.
Any suggestions? Anything in particular you guys like making or having made for you?
So you literally eat nothing but microwaved food otherwise?
Sounds revolting.
Anyway, onwards and upwards:
Spaghetti Bolognese (Spag Bol) has been mentioned a couple of times. It's a staple of mine. It's not particularly healthy, but it's easy to make and filling (and depending on your ingredients it's not especially unhealthy)
You will require:
1.
Mince (of some description - beef, pork, quorn, whatever floats your boat, to make it a bit healthier have quorn(or your nations equivalent) or steak mince, doesn't really matter).
2.
Pasta (doesn't have to be spaghetti - I often make it with fusli just for ease)
3.
Sauce (2 options - pre bought bolognese sauce or make your own (which is easy)
4.
2 Hobs and the pans required to actually cook the above (one pan for the pasta, the other for the mince).
To make your own you need tinned tomatoes (chopped, diced, doesn't really matter), a selection of vegetables to be chopped and added to the mix (again, doesn't especially matter but I tend to go for peppers, carrots, courgette and other stuff to add a bit of "crunch" to it), garlic and onions (mentioned seperately because I consider them to be a vital part of the whole thing).
The process of making it is pretty basic:
1. Fry up the onions a little bit to brown them off.
2a. Thrown on the mince, cook it until browned off and juices run clear.
2b. In the other pan, get a handful and a bit of pasta per person, add boiling water and begin to boil it.
3. Add remainder of ingredients (and a splash of water) and simmer until the whole thing reaches a viscosity you like (the longer you leave it, the more "sticky" and less watery it gets)
4. Drain the pasta, put it on your plate.
5. Add the Mince to said plate.
Boom. Spag Bol.
There are, undoubtedly, purists who will tell me I'm wrong in the above, and I've missed out some pretty key details (like amounts of things, and probably a few steps somewhere), but the dish is fairly simple, takes about 15 minutes to do, and once you've worked out how much pasta you need per person, how much mince, etc. etc. Then you can start fucking around with other ingredients.
Basically, everything I cook comes down to 4 elements in various mixes:
1. Pasta or Rice.
2. Meat.
3. Sauce.
4. Vegetables.
Take those 4 things and combine them, and you've got a pretty varied, not entirely unhealthy diet.